Potty training: day 1

We're about 6 hours in, and so far accident-free with Bean. Until... sitting at lunch...
Bean: "Mama, does Little Man need a new diaper?"
Me: "No, Bean, do you?"
Bean: "Mama, Little Man's just wet. He's just wet."
Me: "Bean, are your p*anties wet? Did you tee-tee in your pants?"
Bean: "No silly mama! I tee-teed in my v*gina!"
Well thank you for setting me straight!
Back in diapers now, by her request.

Fun day outside

One of the big reasons we live in the south is for the weather. And it's days like today that remind me of that fact. Here's a couple pictures of our day today - we had a relaxing morning (we went to church last night - Perimeter has communion services on Saturday nights - awesome night of worship!), brunch together, then we went off to the park, home for a late lunch and nap, spent time playing in the front yard and went for a walk in the neighborhood. Overall, a great day for everyone! Here's E. sprinting up the hill with the kids in my beloved Peg Perego Aria twin stroller (love it!). Okay, looking back, in that sentence perhaps I should have chosen the word "beloved" to describe something other than the stroller - maybe my kids... or my husband... or all them... But I guess that's self explanatory. I still love my stroller though. If anyone out there is looking for a stroller of any type, check out Baby Gaga for awesome stroller reviews.

Who knew?

I just got home from an emergency trip to the pediatrician for a burn! Little Man has his left hand (which is the one he seems to use more) mummified. And I'm not sure the doctor believed me about how it happened...

We were playing this morning in the warm, sunny front yard. Liam has a fascination with doors, so he went to the front door and pushed on it. Well, our front door is made of metal and at that time in the morning it was in direct sunlight. He put his hand there, realized it was hot, and left his hand there while he cried and waited for rescue. I don't think I've ever crossed the front yard faster. But now 4 of his fingers are blistered, and to treat them they had to wrap his whole hand, past the wrist. And all because of the front door. Who knew the front door could be such a hazard? I'll know next time.

Raising a blogger

This morning Little Man was roaming the house - Grama & Papa's house, that is - and then I noticed an uneasy quiet. All you parents know the quiet I'm talking about - it's the quiet that can only mean one thing: the kids are into something they shouldn't be. So I went looking for him. When I found him (remember, he's 14 months old), he was sitting on the floor of my room, he had found my laptop, put it squarely in his lap, opened it up, and opened up numerous applications - including a web browser with my blog! And there he sat, pushing all the keys. Perhaps he's seen me too many times typing away?

Road trippin'

I'm heading out with my kids today - 8 hours of driving to spend a week and a half with the grandparents. Just me, a 2 year old and a one year old, in the car for 8 wonderful hours! (Hubby's on a business trip traveling around Europe - rough life, right?)

I never thought

...I'd hear myself say "don't drag your baby brother around on a leash!" Need I say more?

Best movie ever! And update on the kids too...

Last night we were rolling in laughter as we watched "Thank you for smoking." Brilliant! Smart, witty, sarcastic and irreverent, entirely non-PC, and hilarious! Love it. Highly recommend it. Rarely do you see a movie that takes aim so well and drives the point home, using humor to do all the work.

And a bit about the kids... They've both hit new developmental milestones - Liam is (finally!) holding his own sippy cup! He can feed himself! And he's trying (a little) harder to walk. Yesterday he stood in front of me, let go of me and gave me a big smile as he stretched his arms out to the side, like "look, ma, no hands!" He was really proud of himself. And he's finally babbling a bit, no, scratch that. He's yelling. But he's yelling different syllables, and I think that counts as babble!

Sofia on the other hand has reverted to baby-hood. She wants me to hold her sippy cup while she drinks, feed her bites of finger food, pick her up to put her on the couch, she wants a pacifier and to drink milk from a bottle (Liam doesn't even do that anymore!). Of course, the next minute she demands to dress herself and throws herself on the floor in 'wooden plank' mode if I try to pick out her clothes for her. Confused? Really though, I can't complain. She's only 3 months away from her 3rd birthday and she never really hit the terrible twos. Think Liam will be this good too? Surely I can't be that lucky. But, if his temperament is any indication, it'll be smooth sailing!

Liam's birthday

So, correction to the previous post... Liam did not, indeed, turn 2. He had his first birthday yesterday. We celebrated with our good friends Jennifer and Jack, whose youngest (of 4) also had her first birthday yesterday. Their little girl, Cami, loved the cake. She dove right in and smeared it everywhere, getting plenty in her mouth. Liam on the other hand put a couple fingers into the icing, but it took him a good 10 minutes to realize that he could then put his fingers in his mouth and eat it. Even once he realized that, he didn't really shovel it in as I'd expected. He really wasn't that into it. He had fun anyhow. We kept him up until almost 9:00 - a fully 2 hours past his bedtime, and he didn't notice the difference. I did though - he actually slept past 7 AM this morning. I wish I had pictures from his birthday, but all we have right now is video. When we get some photos from jennifer I'll post a couple. In the meantime, here are his stats from his doctor checkup this morning:

Weight: 20 lbs 5 oz (15th percentile)
Height: 28 inches (20th percentile)
Head: 19 inches (90th percentile)

More on NightLight (and the kids)

Ambata had their very first sale of NightLight jewelry! It wasn't from Perimeter Church, so it must have been one of Ambata's regulars. We're hoping to get a nice launch here at Perimeter, with full color fliers and events and all, but until then we'll just have a gradual trickle of orders I suppose. But still, one order is better than no orders.

Sofia had her first 'performance' today - the 2 year olds at her preschool did a little choir performance. They sang "We wish you a merry Christmas," "Jingle jingle happy bells," and a couple others. Sofia did great - no tears (lots of the kids cried), she sang the songs, did the hand movements, sat still in her seat... She was brilliant! (except for the little nose picking incident...) I was proud. You should have seen the auditorium though - I think there were more cameras there than at a presidential press conference! It was fun. Here she is last night - hamming it up for the camera.

And Liam turns 2 tomorrow - I'll update on Thursday with his new weight and height. I don't think he'll have any idea what's going for his birthday. We'll have cupcakes and candles, and a few presents, but I think it'll be a bigger day for Sofia than for Liam! I'm a bit worried that she won't understand why Liam is getting presents and she's not, especially with the Christmas tree up and a few presents underneath... Maybe we can distract her with cake.

Parallel Play

They're starting to play together and entertain each other! Success!


Check out my green hat - my very first crochet project!

Baby-proofing

I've come to realize that baby-proofing means different things for different babies. For Sofia, it was taking minor measures to protect her from danger. For Liam on the other hand, I think it's making an attempt to protect my house from the baby. We still have the gate up at the top of the stairs. It's drilled into the studs in the wall. But it won't be for long - Liam pulls at it every chance he gets, and I'm convinced he's going to pull it out of the wall very shortly. He can already pull one corner far enough away from the wall that he could feasibly wiggle through if he really wanted to. And there were all sorts of things that I never needed to baby proof for Sofia - the stove, the TV buttons, the lazy susan in the kitchen, outlets that were behind furniture. Liam's favorite past time is to move the furniture. The kid isn't even 11 months yet! I don't think I'll be able to protect the house from him, but if I try really hard, I can probably (hopefully) keep him from doing permanent damage to himself.

Teeth, pulling up, and other developments

Liam has become such a little explorer recently! He's pulling up on the furniture and trying to cruise along the edges of the furniture. Yesterday he knelt in front of Sofia's baby doll stroller and pushed it across the room on his knees. He thought it was pretty cool!

His 3rd tooth came in, top right. You can't see it yet in his smile, but soon, he'll be a toothy kid! He's eating more than I could ever imagine - up to 12 jars of baby food a day. I've started cutting back on the baby food (at sometimes $.79/jar it gets expensive, especially when you add in formula) and substituting regular table food. I think one of his favorites is scrambled eggs. When you put him next to a girl his age, the difference is striking. The girl (usually) picks up her food one piece at a time, puts it in her mouth, chews, swallows, then goes for another piece. Liam, on the other hand, shovels handfuls at a time into his mouth, doesn't bother with chewing, just continually shovels, occasionally chews, and somehow manages to swallow.
Sofia is doing better with him - she went through a phase where she was afraid of him. But she's much better now. She still gets upset when he goes for one of her toys, but what do you expect from a 2-year old? Now they entertain each other - they laugh at each other, make faces - it's fun to watch. And it makes my job a lot easier. I don't have to be their entertainer. And Sofia still isn't much of an eater, except when it comes to corn on the cob or pomegranates (go figure!).

Halloween & developments

This was the first Halloween that Sofia was old enough to enjoy, and enjoy it she did! Now a week later she's still asking to put on her costume and go trick-or-treating. We went around the neighborhood with the Kinker family - Jack and Ben and mom Hollie. It was good for me - Hollie's a good role model as far as mothering goes. I would have just told Sofia to say 'trick-or-treat' and 'thank you' - but Hollie (how wise is she!) told the kids to look everyone in the eye when they speak to them! So, by the end of the evening, Sofia was looking each person in the eye, saying her trick-or-treat and thank you, and then bye-bye with a wave, all on her own! I'm probably biased, but I think that makes her a child prodigy. So, here is a family picture from Halloween (check out Sofia's cute bumble-bee costume and Liam's little pumpkin outfit!), a picture of Sofia with Jack and Ben Kinker.

Poor Liam had an ear infection for Halloween. The doctor put him on amoxicillin - I had some issues with that, but how am I supposed to know what's best - but the ear infection never really cleared up. So now, we saw the doctor again yesterday and Liam's on a new antibiotic. This antibiotic cost us $100! I'm not even sure that he should be on antibiotics for the ear infections. But the information out there is so confusing! I re-iterated that I don't want him on medicine unless we're sure that it's necessary, and the doc said it was. And since I do like this doctor (the one who told me Liam had a big head, and by the so does mom), I'll take his word for it. Liam does seem a little better today than he was yesterday. So, stats on the kids:

Liam: 20 lbs 7 oz
Sofia: 25 lbs 2 oz
(notice - less than 5 lbs difference between them!)

Hydrocephalus

Wow it's been a while since I've posted! Last week we were faced with a CAT scan for Liam - only 9 months old! - to rule out hydrocephalus and brain tumors. Iti inchipui? So, the first part of the week was awful - I went through a million scenarios in my mind. I worried and worried about the CAT scan. All the information I had said that Liam would have to be aenesthetized. He had just given blood and that was hard enough. I didn't want to watch the nurse insert an IV and then have to watch his little eyes slowly close as he went under.

Well, perfect baby that he is, the nurse tried to do the scan without aenesthesia, and he stayed perfectly still! Again, iti inchipui? (Can you imagine? - romanian) I stood outside the room and prayed like mad, and he layed perfectly still while they did the scan. No need to medicate that kid! And, hours later, I called the doctor for the results, and they confirmed that Liam has a big, healthy head.

While all this was going on, I learned more about hydrocephalus. As it turns out, congenital hydrocephalus is usually because of a problem that occurs in utero. They try to catch it by the time the baby is 4-9 months, and with the use of a shunt and when caught early, most babies grow up to live relatively normal lives with very little long term brain damage. It is very treatable and manageable.

I also thought a lot about how I would explain it to Sofia if Liam did indeed need treatment. I finally decided, and this was a difficult topic to think about, that I would teach her that all things are created by God - she is, Liam is, the trees and butterflies, popsickles, and Larry the cucumber... But even hydrocephalus is created by God. Contrary to what most people would tell you, it isn't a disease or a birth defect, because God didn't make a mistake. And, in God's eyes, hydrocephalus is a blessing. We may never understand how, but God's ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. But if we truly believe that He created all things out of a void, than we must believe that even illnesses, tumors, and what we would call birth defects are all created by an all-loving, sovereign God who doesn't make mistakes. And the things that we see as ailments or 'thorns' in our side as Paul said, very well may be designed by God to bless us. The hard thing about that is that when you're going through it, I don't know how you'd look at the struggles, losses, and pain as blessing. But I have to believe (and maybe it's easier for me because I haven't been there) that even things that may seem like curses are actually blessings.

By the time we had the scan, I was at peace with the situation, and had decided that if God had designed Liam with hydrocephalus, we would cope with and use his weakness to bind the family together and grow together. I praise God that he's healthy though, and I can only hope that a hydrocephalus scare is the biggest issue we have to deal with for a long time.

Preschool rocks!

So, 2 weeks in, and I'm loving it! The bonus - Sofia loves it too! I just became room mom - the egoist in me wants to think that it's because I'm the greatest mom (you know, I make the best lunches, dress my child the most appropriately, and have raised my child better than everyone else). Of course, the real reason I'm room mom is I was the only idiot who signed up. No, I take that back. One other mom signed up. Then she found out what was involved and backed out. So it's just me.

Anyhow, the point of this is that preschool is the best thing that could have happened to Sofia. (Footnote... If you haven't been following, Sofia started preschool - mothers' morning out, really - a couple weeks ago and she goes for two half days a week.) She picked up a cold there, but that's a small price to pay. And besides, the more colds she gets now, the stronger her immune system will be later, right? She doesn't cry when I take her to preschool or Sunday school anymore! She's more confident, she's more independent, she's more social, and she's not afraid of so many things anymore! It's fabulous. Yesterday she had to stay home because she was sick, but she was really heartbroken that she couldn't go! All morning, she found different ways (and reasons) to ask if we could go. In fact, when Liam woke up after Sofia and I ate lunch, she said that now that Liam was awake, we could go to preschool! I love her logic! What a great kid!

And, now that Sofia's in preschool, I can get things done a couple days a week! So, I'm hoping to get in a meeting with the Business Partners International next week to talk about a possible ministry opportunity in Thailand! If Sofia weren't in preschool a couple days a week, I doubt I'd be able to even think about things like that! I'm still hoping that I'll be able to start up some type of mompreneur-ish type of thing (how wonderfully specific I can be!) Do I really want to commit myself to something again that very well may fail? Am I crazy to think I can take on a whole new business? Probably. But crazy is okay, right? even fun, in small doses at least. We'll just have to see. I think I'll wait on Liam's CT scan before I make any plans.

New concept...

A good friend and mentor, Kristin, told me the other day that Eisenhower's mother taught her children that each child in the family is essential to the family's existence, to the point that if the child were not a part of the family, the family unit would fall apart. I see this in two ways, really. On one hand, it gives the kids a very strong sense that they matter, that they're important, and that their every contribution is crucial. And that's a very good thing. On the other hand, what kind of pressure does that put on them, and what kind of expectations? Don't get me wrong, expectations are a good thing. And perhaps, when balanced with constant reassurance of unconditional love that pressure might be okay too. I just have this sense that telling my kids that the family wouldn't exist without them gives them constant pressure not to let the family down. So maybe the concept is good, but the wording should be altered. Maybe that means I should tell my kids how important they are to me, and how vital their contribution to the family is. And besides, I truly think that my family's well being depends more on God and our individual relationships with God than on any individual.

On a different note, I put a note in Sofi's lunch box every day. Tuesday I wrote "You're a star." When I picked her up from preschool and asked her what she ate for lunch, she rattled off an orange, cheese, turkey, and crackers, and "Mama says I'm a star!" It really does matter to her! And just this morning I was playing with her on the couch, and had to run to the next room. I reassured her that I'd be right back because... "you're so much..." (pause as I choke back sneeze) and she finished my sentence with "FUN!" Do you know what that means? It means that I tell her enough how much I appreciate spending time with her - enough that she knows it and can say it back to me! It warmed my heart!

Cuties!

Kids come up with the best stuff! Liam just turned 9 months today - he's taking his precious time on things that Sofia developed early, like gross motor skills and verbalizing. But he has the cutest little 'growl' that he does - he was wearing a tiger shirt yesterday and it was so ironic, because all day long he just growled and growled! He has 2 different growls, really. One is more of a purring sound, and the other is a rough, throaty growl that would scare away any large predator - who needs a guard dog when I have a growler at home?!

And Sofia says the cutest things now. She's experimenting with language, but I'm noticing that comes up with my phrases pretty frequently, only mixed and jumbled together. So today we were sitting at lunch and she asked where Tata is. I explained, quite honestly, that Tata is getting his fingerprints done for his important documents. Her reply, as she turned back to her mac & cheese, "Oh, that's a good idea mama. And maybe tomorrow he can go to Nordstrom." Where does she come up with this stuff? The other day we were eating a peach cobbler and Eugene was sharing with her. When his plate was empty she turned to me and asked me to get more... for Tata! (If you believe she really wanted it for Tata, I have a bridge to sell you!)